The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and
Information Professionals in Scotland

International
networking

Colleagues overseas

Margaret Forrest reports on an IFLA Section meeting in Paris.

The grassroots of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA)
are made up by its ‘Sections’ which, like the Special Interest Groups of CILIP,
cover a wide range of professional interests. One such group is the Libraries
Serving Disadvantaged Persons (LSDP) Section which is concerned with the provision
of accessible and inclusive library services to people with disabilities, patients
in hospitals and prisoners.

I recently attended the mid-year meeting of the LSDP Standing Committee (SC)
in Paris at which the group prepared the programme for the LSDP session at the
forthcoming Quebec conference, discussed a number of publication projects of
the Section and explored a couple of libraries.

Ten countries were represented by the 17 members, including Croatia, France,
Japan, Korea, the Scandinavian countries, Scotland, South Africa and the US.
An important responsibility of the SC is to help prepare for the annual IFLA
conference, but we also spent time discussing our Section’s recent publications,[1]
making arrangements for translations of these to be made available on IFLA
Net and planning future projects for the Section.

Our two-day meeting was held in the Pompidou Centre and our French hosts had
arranged tours of the Public Reference Library at the Centre and a visit to
the library of the oldest hospital in Paris at Saint Louis.

The Public Reference Library at the Pompidou Centre (Bibliotheque publique
d’information (Bpi)) is a publicly-funded resource which is highly valued by
the people of Paris and beyond. It is one of the few reference libraries in
the city which is open at weekends and on public holidays and there are regularly
queues of people waiting two to three hours for the library to open (as there
was on the day we visited). The library is under the direction of the French
Ministry of Culture and is a general information resource. Its services are
managed on the principles of freedom of access (no registration formalities),
currency of resources (regular ‘weeding’ and renewal of stock), evidence based
practice (informed by regular public surveys and research) and cutting-edge
technologies (including the availability of assistive technologies for people
with disabilities).

Before leaving for Paris, I made a virtual visit to the
Bpi library via the Web and was impressed by the video which introduces
visitors to the library services using sign language and sub-titles for deaf
people. Visiting the library in reality helped me to understand how successfully
colour coding and space planning is used to ensure greater access to all. Not
only are there colour codes for the broad subject areas of the library, but
also for the utility services which are part of the unique architecture of the
Pompidou Centre (blue pipes for water, green for air, etc). The Bpi has seating
for 2,200 readers and a counter at the entrance keeps a tally of the number
of people in the building. Similar to a very busy car park, when the maximum
permitted number is reached, potential readers must wait outside until a space
becomes available. How many libraries in the UK have queues of people waiting
two to three hours to use its services?

The library of the oldest hospital in Paris is on a much smaller scale than
the Bpi at the Pompidou Centre, but is just as highly valued by its users. Evelyne
Menaud, Librarian at the hospital, welcomed our group and introduced us to this
specialised service which focuses on the needs of patients but also includes
an information resource for healthcare professionals. The library of Saint Louis
Hospital is the largest of 21 libraries serving both hospital patients and staff
in Paris. Hospital libraries in France are generally funded by the health service
(rather than supported by public library authorities, as they are in some parts
of the UK).

After returning home I reflected on the value of being able to meet with like-minded
colleagues from all over the word to share information and ideas on issues of
common concern to our profession. A few months before the IFLA Conference in
Glasgow in 2002, I remember attending a ‘Meet the President’ event where Derek
Law encouraged CILIPS members to become involved in IFLA and reap the benefits
of international networking. I couldn’t agree more: there is something very
special about being able to develop our professional skills through working
together with colleagues with such diverse cultures and languages from all over
the world.

References1 Recent publications include Guidelines for Library
Services to Persons with Dementia by Helle Arendrup Mortensen and Gyda Skat
Nielsen; Guidelines for Library Services to Prisoners by Vibeke Lehmann and
Joanne Locke; Access to Libraries for Persons with Disabilities: a checklist
by Birgitta Irvall and Gyda Skat Nielsen. See the LSDP
Section website:

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